Lead Astray
by DarknessBloodAngel
Summary: "You have everything," she spat in vehemence, still grappling with the locker Elena was trying so desperately to hold onto to gain leverage, "and it's not because you're a good little girl who deserves happiness. It's because you stole mine!" - But what if her happiness was inside the little vial that everyone - even an Original vampire - was so desperate for.


**Okay, I'm NOT happy with the fact that Katherine is now human (but it'll be interesting and different to see if she's still the same), although I do love the fact she beat Elena up before she was stripped of her vampirism. This is an alternative ending to what happened: What if Elena hadn't gotten the cure out of her pocket fast enough?**

**I was also a little confused as to why Katherine was saying Elena stole her happiness, since that could be interpreted in several ways, so I tried to make some sense of that here. Enjoy and review with your thoughts.**

* * *

"Bonnie, Jer, are you guys here?"

Katherine's fists clenched in anger as she watched her Doppelganger push open the door to the boiler room. She remembered the last time they were in here; a _baby vampire_ had made _her_ - a vampire five centuries her senior and a Doppelganger far superior - beg for her life and humiliated her.

It wasn't just the thought of that, that made her angry. Bonnie had denied her her Silas-like immortality. How dare she! Katherine had played her stupid games, being tethered to her and treated like a leash on a dog, all for nothing and then _threatened_ by a witch too big for her boots when she demanded what was rightfully hers.

Blood trickled down her palm as her nails sliced through the skin. _Elena_, poor little 'innocent' Elena got everything she wanted. Friends to help her with her vampirism, people who would bend over backwards to save her meaningless life and people that loved her flocking around in a protective circle while she had _nothing_.

Because of _her_.

Katherine had been alone all her life since her parents disowned her, she had never felt welcome anywhere after that, it had been like time had stopped for her when her mother had stupidly given her child to her father. Her happiness had been taken from her, and again during 1864 because of the vampire massacre mix-up that meant she had to stay as far away from Damon and Stefan as possible, and then again more recently.

_Because of Elena_.

The little bitch had said something to Elijah, she knew it deep down. She knew she should have ignored Stefan and Damon that day and killed her emotionless double for it. She would have been doing her a favour anyway.

"Well, well," a velvety-soft voice purred from behind Elena, making her whirl around in fright. It was Kol's ghost and judging by how angry he... or _it_, looked she should have been frightened. Just like she _should_ have been running for the rest of her life for killing two of Klaus' brothers.

Why did _Elena_ get a free pass? What was so special about her now that she was a vampire - - and her blood was useless in creating hybrids? Klaus should be chasing her, but instead he was willing to turn a blind eye - - and Elijah had the nerve to call her compassionate after killing two of his brothers and ignoring the fact she was talking down to him.

_It's always her_, she reminded herself bitterly, re-slicing her palm. She was itching to kill something... her Doppelganger. That was, if Kol didn't beat her to it, but at least she could be a spectactor and enjoy watching, and having, the satisfaction of Elena screaming and begging for mercy just like she always should have had to for messing with Originals.

"Speaking of unfinished business," Kol whispered, throwing Elena to the ground.

She landed with a clatter and Kol snarled above her, his vampire visage coming out in such a way that _Katherine_ was frightened full of rage while she cowered and hid her face behind her arms in a desperate bid to protect herself.

Katherine grinned devilishly, waiting for the sound of Elena's piercing screams to echo through the boiler room and cries for help.

But they never came.

Angrily, Katherine jerked her head up to find that Kol had vanished and Elena was shakily picking herself up off the floor. Bonnie had put the veil up _just in time_. Ironic, even when Elena's little minions didn't know she was in trouble, they still found a way to save her ass. Unfortunately for her however, Katherine wasn't a ghost, and she wanted to come out and play.

Knocking something over to get Elena's attention over to where she was, she sped out into full view of her Doppelganger, watching her features contort into fear. It was going to be _marvellous_ torturing her now that she could see the light leave her eyes and the desperation in them.

"Happy graduation, cupcake." She smiled wryly before grabbing Elena tightly and throwing her through the air, slamming her against the door.

She fell down with a crunch, hopefully painful, and Katherine sped over, picking her up once more and opening the door. She kicked her down the hallway, watching her skid down the length of it before colliding with another door. Katherine sped over and kicked her once more, just for the hell of it.

"What are you doing?!" Elena yelled, groaning in pain, holding her head. Katherine ignored her and grabbed hold of her head.

"Would you believe," she began, pulling Elena into the hallway by her head, "I'm having a bad day." She twisted around, swinging Elena's body into the row of lockers behind her. She smacked into them, becoming a crumpled heap on the floor for a brief moment before she got up. Katherine couldn't allow that.

She rushed over to Elena, kicking her backwards and resting her boot over Elena's neck, keeping her pinned to the lockers. "It started when Bonnie denied me my Silas-like immortality," she growled at her Doppelganger who seemed to have everything handed to her on a silver platter. She used to think she hated Klaus, but she _really_ hated Elena. At least Klaus earned the majority of things he got and understood if you wanted something _you_ had to go and get it.

Elena rasped out a humourless chuckle, grappling with Katherine's boot. "Of course, because Katherine Pierce can't be happy with good old vampire-caliber immortality." She used her body as leverage to throw Katherine down, but she was up in seconds, punching Elena in the stomach, making her fly into another row of lockers.

She advanced on her and Elena hurriedly yanked off a locker door, swinging it against her face. The metal collided with her face in a dull sensation, but there was no pain to slow her down, and she grinned at Elena evilly just to show that, grabbing the locker tightly as Elena swung it for her stomach.

"I deserved it," she hissed out. Just _once_ something could have gone her way and she could have been even remotely happy, but no, she nearly always got the short end of the happiness stick worrying about her own survival. With that immortality, she would never have had to worry again.

"I never had a graduation, or a prom, or, you know, a life. But you did," she growled. She and Elena were still sqaubbling like school children over the locker, but she slammed her head into Elena's, making her loosen her grip on it. She wrenched it free, smacking it into her face with no qualms at all.

"You have everything," she spat in vehemence as she tightened her grip on the locker door, boarderlining on enough anger to make her vampire visage come through. "And it's not because you're a good little girl who deserves happiness. It's because you stole mine!" She threw the door through the air and Elena ducked just in time, the door becoming wedged in the classroom door behind her.

Elena was looking at her incredulously, like she was crazy. She didn't know anything, she didn't have to, all she needed to know was that Katherine was going to kill her. "I stole _your_ happiness?" she asked with some sort of sympathy in her voice, but it was quickly replaced by a hardened expression and a growl of, "You killed my brother!"

_And Klaus killed my entire family all at once, but does anyone care? _Katherine thought bitterly as she rushed for Elena. She managed to block her and throw her down the hallway. Katherine rolled over onto her knees and got up. That was pathetic, she didn't even feel anything.

She smirked coyly at Elena, their identical chocolate brown eyes locking in a fierce stand off. "I'll admit, that was nasty," she chuckled. Jeremy had been a necessity to get the cure and get her freedom, nothing more. He meant nothing to her.

Yelling in fury, Elena charged at her. Katherine saw her fist flying out to punch her in the face, and caught it before it could make contact. She pulled Elena closer to her, giving her a sweet smile before she snapped her arm and shoved her away. She collided head-first into the emergency glass case, crumbling to her knees.

Katherine smiled, walking over to where Elena was laying. Blood was trickling out of her forehead and she was trying to crawl away, but Katherine wasn't going to let her. She eyed a janitor's mop propped up in the bucket and Elena's worthless form grasping at the floor to pull herself along.

She snapped the handle off, catching up to Elena in several steps. She twirled the stick and looked down at her Doppleganger with disdain. Why was it always _her? _"I have nothing" - she sliced the stick down, jabbing Elena's shoulder harshly, watching her fall onto her stomach and cry out in pain - "but I'm about to change that," she swore, kicking Elena over onto her back.

Elena groaned and put a hand up to her bleeding forehead, her eyes crossing from dizziness. "Kicking someone while they're down..." she said weakly before faltering, "classy till the end, Katherine." She groaned again and Katherine couldn't help but laugh. It was like she had predicted her own fate.

"_Your_ end." Katherine forcefully stabbed the broken end of the stick into Elena's throat. Blood beaded out from around the hole and Elena gulped and struggled against it as Katherine mercilessly dug it in deeper, piercing her windpipe.

She wrenched and twisted it, keeping in Elena's throat. Each jerk was for each thing she had taken from her; she had taken Stefan and Damon, forced Elijah away from her and gotten everything _she_ should have gotten. She had gotten freedom from Klaus after _dishourning_ him in a worse way than she had done, and he continued to chase her.

She pulled the stick out of Elena's throat, her eyes snapping open in a pained scream. Katherine bent down and punched her hand into Elena's chest, gripping her heart. She had had the opportunity to do that once, only she had listened to Stefan and Damon and left her alive. Now she had the opportunity, she would not waste it.

She admired the sight of her Doppelganger, wide-eyed with fright and gasping in desperation as she was frantically scrabbling into her pocket. Whatever was in there, Katherine couldn't afford to let her get it out, especially as it seemed like she wanted to use it against her.

She reared her head out of the way as it looked like Elena was going to finally pull out whatever she had been trying to get. "Bye-bye, little girl," she hissed.

Elena gave one final whimper and raised her fist. Katherine smacked it away and the cure slipped from her fingers, rolling across the ground. Her eyes hardened in anger at the thought of having her immortality stripped away and she tore Elena's heart from her chest.

She discarded it and looked down at her Doppelganger's body. She was finally gone, the carbon copy of her was gone and out of her life for good. Now nothing could stand in her way of trying to find some happiness in her life.

Picking herself up from the floor, Katherine walked over to where the cure was and picked it up. Chuckling to herself she thought, so much had been wasted to get this, this one thing that wasn't even meant for any of _them_. The selfish lot who were trying to get it for their precious little Elena. She now had the choice to take it, but it seemed absurd and rational at the same time.

Then something struck her and she looked around at the carnage she and Elena had created; the row of lockers were dented where she had threw Elena into them, a door had a locker lodged into it, a janitor was going to be missing his mop, and Elena's dead body was covered in blood, cuts and bruises. All this time she had been ranting about how Elena stole her happiness, but what if her happiness was inside the little vial that everyone - even an _Original _vampire - was so desperate for.

Breathing heavily, Katherine crushed it instantly in her hand - the one thing that could have gotten her her freedom - tiny glass shards embedding themselves into her palm and the cherry-colored liquid dripping down her arm like blood and decorating the floor. Would she have wanted to go back to being Katerina Petrova? She was the girl who was shattered inside by her family's betrayal but secretly wanting to love someone and feel loved in return.

_Katherine Pierce_ would never know.


End file.
